ElNono
02-05-2014, 03:02 AM
Argentina can have a good tournament
SAN ANTONIO.- Everything is calm here, at home. I’d love to be in the road trip, traveling with the team and playing, and this rehab is no fun, but I’m fine. This is an injury, like it happened so many times before, but I’m taking it easy. I’m following a program without any problems. And it’s starting to pay off. I think I’ll be back after the All Star Game (the 16th of this month).
Watching my teammates from afar, I’m taking extra care of myself to rejoin them during the trip. Meanwhile, I keep doing the boring stuff: treadmill, elliptical, swimming… And body exercises, not just for the hamstring, but also to strengthen the buttocks, the spine, etc. I started running in the pool, continued on the treadmill and then on the court, such fun, and today I started practicing more with the basketball. Slowly we’re making progress.
If I look at the positive, this is a bit of rest in a very demanding season. I’m hoping everything goes back to normal, and be part of the remainder of the regular season. I get very bored with this situation, but it’s only two or three weeks. I had some studies done to see what could cause the injury; a physical trainer and a kinesiologist stayed with me, and they won’t let me play until the rehab is complete. They don’t want to hurry anything, and make sure the muscle is fully healed.
I’m in a fairly good mood. Last season, I had three injuries, and after the third one I wanted to destroy everything the moment it happened. This is the first one that makes me lose any significant time. If it’s the only one, great, I’ll take it with some patience. I’m optimist.
The team is undergoing some complicated times. Having four important players injured is very difficult to overcome. It forces improvising starting lineups, hire some players to burn time, and make adjustments. Two out of the four, Danny and Tiago, are back, and are very important because of their defense, because they understand the system well and because they work really hard. Leonard isn’t there yet and it looks like he’ll be back around the same time as me, which means Green is our best perimeter defender. It just turned out that all of us that play that position were injured. I’m sure the last few games have a lot to do with that; we’re not overflowing with talent, we’re not winning games easily, and we have to work hard for it. We have to weather the storm. At this time I’m not worried what everyone else is doing, and if we’re first, second or fifth. Afterwards, during the playoffs, we’ll think about it a bit more. The important thing right now is get better and play well.
I think around here, in the US, they don’t even know the Worlds drawing happened this week. The stars will play because they made that commitment, that they didn’t use to have before. And whatever they take to Spain, they’ll have an amazing team. They have height, explosiveness, and talent-wise, they’re well above the rest, as Kevin Durant showed in Turkey 2010. All that said, during the games anything can happen, but they’re the clear favorites no matter who goes. They have more than enough.
Argentina? Out group is complicated. Groups A and B are the strongest, and whoever survives will eliminate each other in the second round. The teams from 1 to 8 in both groups are extremely even, and really, anything can happen. I don’t know much about Philippines and Senegal, I don’t know what kind of game they can play. But the road is difficult, because event though Argentina has a good group overall, it’s going to eventually have to play some from group A: Serbia, France, Brazil, and home team Spain. You can end up 1st or 4th by minimum margins, like points scored. Any result could complicate the second round matchup. But besides of all that, I think we can have a good tournament.
Disclaimer: I’m talking about Argentina, it’s not that I’m including myself. Like Julio [Lamas] said, I don’t need anybody to convince me. I know what it is to play the Worlds, I appreciate my teammates and I enjoy playing a tournament with them. I just need to see how I feel, both physically and mentally, before making a decision.
In the meantime, my wife’s belly is growing quite rapidly. It’s been six months already. My other two children are not interested in the matter at all. We might say something about their coming brother, they say two words and keep doing whatever they’re doing. They’re very close, they go everywhere together. If one is not around, the other asks where is he, why isn’t Dante or Nico around. Once in a while they have some argument, just like everybody, but it’s pretty amazing how they organize themselves to watch some movies, or share things… It’s truly spectacular the relationship they have. Everything is in great shape on that aspect.
---
Original article in Spanish:
http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1661397-la-columna-de-manu-ginobili-sobre-el-mundial-de-espana-2014-podemos-obtener-una-buena-ubicacion
Excuse any typos and enjoy.
SAN ANTONIO.- Everything is calm here, at home. I’d love to be in the road trip, traveling with the team and playing, and this rehab is no fun, but I’m fine. This is an injury, like it happened so many times before, but I’m taking it easy. I’m following a program without any problems. And it’s starting to pay off. I think I’ll be back after the All Star Game (the 16th of this month).
Watching my teammates from afar, I’m taking extra care of myself to rejoin them during the trip. Meanwhile, I keep doing the boring stuff: treadmill, elliptical, swimming… And body exercises, not just for the hamstring, but also to strengthen the buttocks, the spine, etc. I started running in the pool, continued on the treadmill and then on the court, such fun, and today I started practicing more with the basketball. Slowly we’re making progress.
If I look at the positive, this is a bit of rest in a very demanding season. I’m hoping everything goes back to normal, and be part of the remainder of the regular season. I get very bored with this situation, but it’s only two or three weeks. I had some studies done to see what could cause the injury; a physical trainer and a kinesiologist stayed with me, and they won’t let me play until the rehab is complete. They don’t want to hurry anything, and make sure the muscle is fully healed.
I’m in a fairly good mood. Last season, I had three injuries, and after the third one I wanted to destroy everything the moment it happened. This is the first one that makes me lose any significant time. If it’s the only one, great, I’ll take it with some patience. I’m optimist.
The team is undergoing some complicated times. Having four important players injured is very difficult to overcome. It forces improvising starting lineups, hire some players to burn time, and make adjustments. Two out of the four, Danny and Tiago, are back, and are very important because of their defense, because they understand the system well and because they work really hard. Leonard isn’t there yet and it looks like he’ll be back around the same time as me, which means Green is our best perimeter defender. It just turned out that all of us that play that position were injured. I’m sure the last few games have a lot to do with that; we’re not overflowing with talent, we’re not winning games easily, and we have to work hard for it. We have to weather the storm. At this time I’m not worried what everyone else is doing, and if we’re first, second or fifth. Afterwards, during the playoffs, we’ll think about it a bit more. The important thing right now is get better and play well.
I think around here, in the US, they don’t even know the Worlds drawing happened this week. The stars will play because they made that commitment, that they didn’t use to have before. And whatever they take to Spain, they’ll have an amazing team. They have height, explosiveness, and talent-wise, they’re well above the rest, as Kevin Durant showed in Turkey 2010. All that said, during the games anything can happen, but they’re the clear favorites no matter who goes. They have more than enough.
Argentina? Out group is complicated. Groups A and B are the strongest, and whoever survives will eliminate each other in the second round. The teams from 1 to 8 in both groups are extremely even, and really, anything can happen. I don’t know much about Philippines and Senegal, I don’t know what kind of game they can play. But the road is difficult, because event though Argentina has a good group overall, it’s going to eventually have to play some from group A: Serbia, France, Brazil, and home team Spain. You can end up 1st or 4th by minimum margins, like points scored. Any result could complicate the second round matchup. But besides of all that, I think we can have a good tournament.
Disclaimer: I’m talking about Argentina, it’s not that I’m including myself. Like Julio [Lamas] said, I don’t need anybody to convince me. I know what it is to play the Worlds, I appreciate my teammates and I enjoy playing a tournament with them. I just need to see how I feel, both physically and mentally, before making a decision.
In the meantime, my wife’s belly is growing quite rapidly. It’s been six months already. My other two children are not interested in the matter at all. We might say something about their coming brother, they say two words and keep doing whatever they’re doing. They’re very close, they go everywhere together. If one is not around, the other asks where is he, why isn’t Dante or Nico around. Once in a while they have some argument, just like everybody, but it’s pretty amazing how they organize themselves to watch some movies, or share things… It’s truly spectacular the relationship they have. Everything is in great shape on that aspect.
---
Original article in Spanish:
http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1661397-la-columna-de-manu-ginobili-sobre-el-mundial-de-espana-2014-podemos-obtener-una-buena-ubicacion
Excuse any typos and enjoy.